Radioactive dating for kids

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Archaeologists and scientists use absolute dating methods on samples ranging from prehistoric fossils to artifacts from relatively recent history.Chronometric techniques include radiometric dating and radio-carbon dating, which both determine the age of materials through the decay of their radioactive elements; dendrochronology, which dates events and environmental conditions by studying tree growth rings; fluorine testing, which dates bones by calculating their fluorine content; pollen analysis, which identifies the number and type of pollen in a sample to place it in the correct historical period; and thermoluminescence, which dates ceramic materials by measuring their stored energy.Chronometric dating has advanced since the 1970s, allowing far more accurate dating of specimens.Adrian Grahams began writing professionally in 1989 after training as a newspaper reporter.One key to understanding how and why something happened is to pinpoint when it happened.(See also anthropology, “Dating.”) Radiocarbon dating was developed in the late 1940s by physicist Willard F. An atom of ordinary carbon, called carbon-12, has six protons and…His work has been published online and in various newspapers, including "The Cornish Times" and "The Sunday Independent." Grahams specializes in technology and communications.